Religion is a sacred ‘possession’ that all of us carry from our parents, something which is too susceptible, too sensitive to talk about and always protected. This has always been one of the major criterions of dividing the world population into different categories. But, instead of looking out the differences in the religions, cannot we look at the similarities? One cannot claim that all religions teach their followers the ‘same’ thing but the underlying concept of following a religion remains the ‘same’. It is just the different means of serving “GOD”.
All the religions teach us a genuine, obedient, and an honorable way to live. They teach us the win of ‘good’ over ‘evil’. All believe in GOD and the submission to HIM in one way or the other. But, we actually have forgot all this and drawn boundaries, which if broken, are considered the biggest ‘evil’. All religions teach us to love each other and live peacefully.
India is a land of many religions। Do you actually remember the total number of religions that exist in India? Believe it or not, there are 6 major religions here, and about the rest of the religions, we may have no or very little idea.
- Hindus: 82.0%
- Muslims: 12.12%
- Christians: 2.34%
- Sikhs: 1.94%
- Buddhists: 0.76%
- Jains: 0.40%
- Other Religions & Persuasions: 0.44%
- Miscellaneous: 0.05%
One cannot out righty label a religion as ‘good’ or bad’. Every religion has its customs, rituals, rites, and beliefs which need to be respected. It is really awful on the part of people who tend to generalize a religion on such basis or on the grounds of the behavior of few of its followers. Say for example, terrorism. No religion favors terrorism, killings, or bloodshed but because of the fact that few “Muslims” are involved in the act, one tends to term “Islam” as a religions that favors it. All one needs is to accept the existence of other religions, try to understand it and give respect.
Fighting in the name of religion does well to none. In fact, it has all the dreadful repercussions which continue to haunt our lives. It just leaves scars which even time is unable to heal. In first quarter of 2007, 23 people were killed and 611 injured in 191 communal incidents in India. It means effecting more than 600 families directly and all the other families related to them. What all do we get from it, actually ‘nothing but the pain’.
We live in an era where everyone feels himself to be an expert to comment on anything including ‘religion’. We all have sentiments associated with our religions; it is quite a delicate subject. Do not ever try to use it for personal benefits. Next time, you might see someone else commenting the same for your religion.
All one needs is to accept the existence of other religions and respect them. This will do the world of good to humanity and believe me, there will be peace all around.
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